Japan

"I would ask residents in the areas where the shaking was particularly strong to remain vigilant for the possibility of another earthquake of a similar magnitude," Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.

Coal-dependent Indonesia is reviving decades-old plans to build nuclear power plants that were put on hold following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, as it seeks to meet its decarbonisation targets. Some members of the public and experts, however, have voiced concerns about the risks of a nuclear disaster in the quake-prone country, despite one of the leading candidate sites being an uninhabited island considered not to be in an active seismic zone. The government began discussing...

Boy, seven, had complained of feeling tired so father left him with snacks and a soft drink and continued his climb A man who abandoned his seven-year-old son on Mount Fuji in Japan after the boy complained of feeling tired while on a family hike has been reprimanded by local police. A worker on Japan’s highest mountain discovered the child sitting alone on a bench near the sixth station of the Fujinomiya trail at an altitude of more than 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) on Thursday. Continue reading...

Honda also said that his long-term goal remains to be the head coach of the Japan national team.

The sharp clatter of spinning metal tops, cheers, sighs of frustration and shouts of “three, two, one … Go shoot!” echo across a shopping centre in Hong Kong’s New Territories on a weekday. In shops across Tuen Mun Town Plaza, children, teens and young adults hunch over small plastic battle arenas, unleashing their tops into the “Beystadiums” in head-to-head competitions where the top that remains spinning the longest wins. The toy popularised by Japanese anime in the early 2000s made a comeback...

Japan's farmers are opting for more nocturnal schedules as daytime summer heat makes working conditions dangerous. North of Tokyo, Motoaki Iijima harvests flowers in his illuminated greenhouse long after sunset. The farmer was pushed to  make a dramatic change after a worker suffered heatstroke picking sunflowers in the greenhouse three summers prior. A few towns away, poultry farmer Tetsuya Usuba has also adopted a nocturnal schedule, waking his flock at 2:30 am to eat.

The Pacific Fleet conducted a Bastion missile test just days after Putin's visit to the islands prompted Tokyo to summon Russia's ambassador to Japan and drew a US statement of support for Japanese sovereignty.

Japan is preparing to spend more than ever on defence as analysts say Tokyo is being forced to respond to a convergence of regional threats, fast-changing military technology and growing uncertainty over the reliability of the US security umbrella. The defence ministry is preparing to request a record budget of 8.9 trillion yen (US$56.1 billion) for the 2027 financial year, with major outlays planned for drones, AI-enabled command systems, long-range missiles and support for Japan’s domestic...

Nissin Foods, the company that invented instant noodles, appears to have created an entirely new category with a hit product: cup noodles made with cold water. Initial supplies of the handy meal – available in Spicy Kimchi and Chicken Salt Lemon flavours – sold out a week after hitting store shelves on July 20, according to Nissin. While the Tokyo-based company did not disclose sales figures, it had anticipated supplies to last one to two months. Nissin, which has almost half of Japan’s...

Downpours break records and cause transport chaos, evacuations and deaths, as people get trapped inside vehicles South Korea and Japan were hit by extreme rain late last week and into this week. On 13 August in the city of Chiba near Tokyo there was a record-breaking 115mm of rainfall in just one hour, while the nearby city of Sakura broke its own record with 97mm in one hour. Local authorities issued a level 5 emergency warning for heavy rain, the highest alert level and the first time one has been issued since the system was implemented in May. More than 100,000 households were asked to evacuate, with more than 20,000 in the Chiba prefecture left without power, while thousands of people were stranded at Tokyo’s Narita airport. Thirteen people have been confirmed dead, at least three of whom were found trapped inside their vehicles. One person is still missing. Continue reading...